Ethics and Leadership News

A New Approach to Funding Social Enterprises

Professor Bruce Kogut recently co-authored an article describing how bringing philanthropic and investment capital together effectively could increase capacity to address pressing social challenges and how savvy financial structuring would be necessary to make this work.

Professor Bruce Kogut, along with Nalin Kulatilaka of Boston University Antony Bugg-Levine, CEO of the Nonprofit Finance Fund and adjunct professor at the School, co-authored “A New Approach to Funding Social Enterprise,” in the recent edition of the Harvard Business Review, which explains how financial engineering can make it possible to channel investment from the financial markets to organizations devoted to social ends — organizations known as social enterprises, which have traditionally looked to charity for much of their funding. With the right financial innovations, these enterprises can access a much deeper pool of capital than was previously available to them, allowing them to greatly extend their social reach. The article is available online with HBR registration.

Sir Ronald Cohen, chairman of The Portland Trust and Bridges Ventures, also discussed social capital markets and impact investing at the recent Klion Forum:

Financial Innovation: A Risky Business?

This event was presented by Fred Friendly Seminars in partnership with the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics, and was part of Columbia Business School’s Individual, Business and Society (IBS) curriculum.

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